Jumble Sale Jaunt at the Hospice Summer Fete

Some of the regular dates in my calendar are the jumble sales and fetes held at our local hospice.  They are great events attended by hundreds of people, where you can find some amazing bargains amongst the donations given to the hospice, with all your money going to a very worthy cause.  The queue to get in stretches right down the street so I tend to aim to get there half an hour after it starts to avoid queuing.   I like to support these events, but it is not for the feint hearted as I will explain later.  This Saturday was the turn of the Summer Fete, which along with stalls selling all manner of things, raffles, tombolas, bottle stall, etc., there was also the usual Jumble sale in the basement.

The 'Aladdin's Cave' basement is always a bit of a crush, but an absolute must to visit.  This is where most of the donated clothes, shoes, bags, linens and bric-a-brac are laid out and it is my absolute favourite part.  My first port of call is always the linen and there are large bins to wade through which is great fun.  It can get a bit fraught, but I just take my time and don't get involved in the pushing and shoving.  People buy trolley, suitcase and bin bags full of clothes, sheets, curtains, etc. and so there is always a plethora of bags, cases and shopping trolleys to negotiate to get to the stall which can be tricky.  It is not for everyone I realise, but I've always found it quite good fun.

Upstairs in the main building it is usually a bit more civilised with a furniture stall, quality clothes/shoes stall, jewellery stall and book stall, so I always have a walk around and see what I can find.  I try to limit myself by taking a set amount of money with me, maybe £10 or £20 maximum and when it is gone it is time to go home.  Sometimes I don't even spend it all, but I usually come back with at least a few items.

This year was no exception.  I was a bit late getting there for various reasons and it had been underway for an hour by the time arrived, but it didn't really make too much difference.  I'm sure I probably missed some amazing things, but what you don't see doesn't hurt.  As usual I made my way to the linens first where I only found a few things this time, but hopefully all of them will be useful.  I found this lovely Laura Ashley round cushion with cover.  I paid £2 for this and a couple of other items, which was really good value.  It is a little worn and faded on one side but in good clean condition, so I might cut the cover up to use for patchwork and make another cover for the cushion which is a nice plump, clean, feather filled one.

With it I bought this lovely linen embroidered tray cloth and a quilted pan/pot stand with chickens and chicks on it.  I don't think either of these things have been used as they were in immaculate condition, bar a few creases.

 

 

I also bought a couple of other things on this stall, namely this pretty blue floral pillow case and some dark grey linen fabric which looked like it had been cut from the bottom of a new pair of curtains.  It will be perfect to back my patchwork cushion and some other new cushion covers I need to make for the living room.  They cost 50p for the two.

 

 

 

Next, I ventured into the marquee, where just inside the door was a lovely sewing/knitting/craft stall.  I found so many things here that I just couldn't resist.  Here's a picture of all the things I bought.

 

 

There was a tub of cottons for £1.50.  They probably aren't the best quality and are only 100 yard reels, but for 10p each or less they will get used at some point and were good value.  I also bought 5 bobbins for my sewing machine, all filled with cotton and costing 10p each too.  The 3 pairs of knitting needles were 30 pence per pair and will be added to my collection.  The two sewing patterns and the really cute cross stitch bird cost £1.10 altogether. 

 

I later ventured inside the main building and had a good look around the book stall.  I know I have a pile of books waiting to be read, but I really just cannot resist a good book if I see one and at 3 for £1 I found quite a few.  I did start off looking for a travel guide, but they had one for virtually every destination but the one I wanted, so I will keep looking.  I did, however, find the following books which I bought.

 

 

These two little books were great.  They are directories of shops in Paris which sell handmade goods and vintage/antique items.  The photographs in them are lovely and very inspirational.  The Made by Hand one is by Pia Jane Bijkerk an Australian stylist whose work I have read about on a couple of blogs in recent months.  Who knows, maybe I will even get to Paris sometime soon and visit some of the shops referred to.

 

I bought these two fiction books which looked like a good read and then finally bought these last two books which appealed as they include lots of tips on how to save money and live more frugally.

I bought a few other things not pictured here too and still had change from the £20 I took with me, as well as putting £5 on my travel card for bus fares (although it didn't cost this much to get there - £2.60 there and back). The £3 I had left in my pocket when I left didn't stay there long, however, as when I got off the bus I walked past one of my favourite charity shops on the way home and saw a lovely 3 stranded necklace in the window.  I went in to have a look and ended up buying it and another for £2.50.

I had a lovely and fun afternoon though, didn't spend too much money, and came home with quite a few lovely and useful things.  What more can a girl ask for?